There were many famous verses and poems praising Luofu Mountain. Cheng Xinzhan had two favorites.
Of poems about the mountain heights, none brimmed with more immortal grace than Patriarch Lü's "To a Daoist of Luofu":
Who shared the path of Luofu's Daoist? Clad in grass, fed on woodland fare, he held princes lightly.
The world's sixty-year cycles could not bind him; within his flask, Heaven and Earth were freedom alone.
A few moves played on an unfinished game, river and moon met dawn; one long cry rang out, and sea and sky turned autumnal.
After drinking, he turned to speak of the road home, pointing far toward white clouds at the sky's edge.
Of this poem, Cheng Xinzhan loved the second couplet most. "The world's sixty-year cycles could not bind him" captured all the elegance of immortals, and the realm of longevity countless cultivators dreamed of.
Of poems about life below the mountain, none carried more of the warmth of mortal life than Lay Buddhist Dongpo's "Eating Lychees in Huizhou":
Below Luofu Mountain, spring lasted through all four seasons; loquats and bayberries ripened fresh in turn.
To eat three hundred lychees every day, I would gladly live forever south of the ranges.
The poem was concise and easy to understand, yet intensely heartfelt. Its closing line, "I would gladly live forever south of the ranges," was more sincere than any praise, and showed the richness and beauty of Luofu in Lingnan.
Amid spring breezes and warm sunshine, Cheng Xinzhan left Silver Vase Mountain and rode his lion east. Before long, he reached Luofu Mountain in Huizhou.
Luofu Mountain was the thirty-fourth Paradise of Daoism, and its Lotus Grotto-Heaven ranked seventh among the grotto-heavens. Long known as "Lingnan's foremost mountain" and "ancestor of the mountains of the Hundred Yue," it was